Lasse Juhani Kukkonen (born 18 September 1981) is a retired Finnish professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

defenceman Defence or defense (in American English) in ice hockey is a player position that is primarily responsible for preventing the opposing team from Goal (ice hockey), scoring. They are often referred to as defencemen, D, D-men or blueliners (the l ...

. He last played for

Oulun Kärpät Oulun Kärpät (Finnish language, Finnish for "Oulu Stoat, Ermines", sometimes referred to as Kärpät Oulu) is a Finnish professional ice hockey team based in Oulu and playing in the top-tier Finnish Liiga. Kärpät have won the Finnish champion ...

of the Finnish

Liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mesti ...

. Earlier in his career, he had a four-year stint in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) with the

Chicago Blackhawks The Chicago Blackhawks (spelled Black Hawks until 1986, and known colloquially as the Hawks) are a professional ice hockey team based in Chicago. The Blackhawks compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (N ...

and

Philadelphia Flyers The Philadelphia Flyers are a professional ice hockey team based in Philadelphia. The Flyers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference (NHL), Eastern Conference. The team play ...

. After his career in ice hockey, Kukkonen is working as a lecturer and trainer specialising in mental coaching and leadership.

Playing career

Kukkonen was drafted by the

as their fifth-round pick, 151st overall, in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft. He played ten

games during the

2003–04 NHL season The 2003–04 NHL season was the 87th regular season of the National Hockey League. The Stanley Cup champions were the Tampa Bay Lightning, who won the best of seven series four games to three against the Calgary Flames. For the fourth time in ...

, after which he returned to his hometown Kärpät in the

SM-liiga The Liiga, colloquially called the Finnish Elite League in English or FM-ligan in Swedish, is the top professional ice hockey league in Finland. The league comprises 16 teams from all around Finland with relegation and promotion between the Mest ...

. Kukkonen won the SM-liiga gold medal with Kärpät in 2005. In the 2006-07 season, Kukkonen returned to the Chicago Blackhawks and played in 54 games before he was dealt to the

along with a 3rd round draft pick in a three-way deal with the

and

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

on 26 February 2007. With the Flyers, Kukkonen was put on a defensive pairing with

Joni Pitkänen Joni Pitkänen (born 19 September 1983) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Philadelphia Flyers, Edmonton Oilers, and Carolina Hurricanes. Playing career Pitkänen start ...

, also a native of Oulu. The two were also a pairing for 4 years in Finland. On 17 May 2007 he signed a two-year contract with the Flyers. On 24 June 2009, Kukkonen signed a two-year deal with

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n team Avangard Omsk of the KHL.

International play

*He was named to the Finnish Olympic team at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics (), officially the XX Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February in Turin, Italy. This marked the second time Italy had hosted the Winter O ...

after defenceman

Sami Salo Sami Sakari Salo (born 2 September 1974) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey defenceman of the National Hockey League (NHL). He began his professional career with TPS of the SM-liiga before being selected by the Ottawa Senators with thei ...

was injured, and played in both the semifinal match versus

and the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

match versus

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. *Kukkonen was named the Finnish national team as captain of the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics (), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (; ) and also known as PyeongChang 2018 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held between 9 and 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Ko ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

Awards and honours

''Other awards:'' *

Champions Hockey League The Champions Hockey League is a European first-level ice hockey tournament. Launched in the 2014–15 season by 26 clubs, 6 leagues and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), the tournament features top teams across Europe. Backgrou ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

*
Brooklynite Hockey - Lasse Kukkonen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kukkonen, Lasse 1981 births Living people Avangard Omsk players Chicago Blackhawks draft picks Chicago Blackhawks players Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Russia Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in Sweden Finnish expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Finnish ice hockey defencemen Ice hockey players at the 2006 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2010 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2014 Winter Olympics Ice hockey players at the 2018 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Metallurg Magnitogorsk players Norfolk Admirals players Olympic bronze medalists for Finland Olympic ice hockey players for Finland Olympic medalists in ice hockey Olympic silver medalists for Finland Oulun Kärpät players Philadelphia Flyers players Philadelphia Phantoms players Ice hockey people from Oulu Rögle BK players 21st-century Finnish sportsmen